


Next Time We're Doing Things Differently

by CookieDoughMe



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Gen, LLF Comment Project, Not Sure How To tag this TBH, diverges from canon at the end of season three, how would Nathan and Duke respond without Audrey around?, possibilities for next time, what if the Barn did something crazy?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 17:24:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15124304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CookieDoughMe/pseuds/CookieDoughMe
Summary: Diverges from canon from the end of season three - Audrey went into the barn, leaving Duke and Nathan behind in Haven as the Troubles ended. Loosely follows on from the events ofWhen did the building fall down?(and thinking about what might happen after that was what gave me the idea for this I think) but you don't need to have read that for this to work, and this has a very different feel to it.Differs from canon also in regards to (minor character) Eleanor, who here was badly injured during the events of episode 1.09 As You Were and left Haven to recover.In terms of warnings, if unanswered questions bother you, you might want to know that this does set up a fairly significant mythology question which it then does not attempt to answer (and which I do not have an answer for).





	1. Chapter 1

Everyone in the office looked up at the sound of his voice. That was how it went when the Chief of Haven PD spoke. The old wooden walls vibrated in tune with his barked-out commands, and officers sprang into action in response. The distinctive sound of his voice was an occasional source of terror to new recruits, and sometime inspiration to those who knew him a little better. Either way, everyone paid attention when his greying head of hair emerged from his office and his piercing blue eyes turned in their direction.

Whether born here or new to Haven, everyone knew that the Chief was synonymous with Haven PD, and recent arrivals soon learnt that he knew more about the town than almost anyone. The amount of interest they showed in the town's history did not necessarily correlate to how much they got told about it, of course. The curious new arrivals didn't know it, but the precinct was unofficially divided into two, and they were in the half that was unaware of a lot of what went on in the town.

Today was a case in point; a busy day with numerous current cases, many of them entirely inexplicable without a working knowledge of the Troubles.

“Set up a roadblock on Sunrise Lane, check in with the hospital on the Caldwell case, and chase up the ME for those blood test results,” the Chief’s gruff voice was aimed at three different officers as he walked through the building and they all called back an acknowledgement. The sound of his voice softened just a little as he added, “Then get yourselves home. Hopefully we all have a more uneventful evening ahead of us.”

He closed the door of his office behind him. “Keep it together Wuornos,” he muttered to himself. “You knew this was coming.” His staff didn't deserve to get shouted at and he knew it, but it had been a crazy day and sometimes he had to concentrate to hold himself together. At least things seemed to be under control for the time being. Maybe tomorrow would be calmer.

He leant against the desk that had been his father's before him and looked at the map currently on display on the wall screen. He made another note on it and watched the icon change as the information updated to other screens on walls around the building and in officers’ pockets around town. There had been a lot of new cases today and there was only one reasonable conclusion to be drawn; the Troubles were back in full swing, and ahead of schedule at that.

He took his personal screen out of his pocket and flicked it up to full size, bringing up the private file with the timelines they had put together of the last few cycles based on the information they had available, which it turned out was fairly extensive. The 2010 and 1983 cycles that he had personally experienced were shown alongside 1956 and 1929. After that the details got a little more vague, but they had at least some information going back a fair old way and it seemed there had been a pretty steady pattern until now.

An icon on the display changed to confirm the recent update; this information was more restricted than the general Haven PD feed, but it drew information from it. This time around the Troubles were definitely ramping up more quickly than they had before. That was a concern actually, and one they should try to work out. He tapped another icon to send a message, intending to suggest to the group that they meet at the Old Herald tonight, though even as he did so he hesitated, wondering whether they could expect a productive discussion when they didn't really have any new information.

As he considered it, he heard a familiar voice making its way through the building. He opened his office door and stuck his head out to look at the owner of the voice. “Stop distracting my staff,” he said, but the gruff edge to his voice was gone and this was not a barked command. He felt the difference in himself and the way the atmosphere of the whole place had lightened, and he realised exactly how glad he was to see that Duke was back.


	2. Chapter 2

The owner of the voice turned to smile at him, “Hey Nate,” he said. “I know you just want me all to yourself,” he joked and he gave the junior officer he'd been talking to a reassuring squeeze of the shoulder before he joined Nathan in his office. They hugged only briefly but their hands stayed wrapped in each other as they talked.

“Glad you're back. Everything went ok?” 

Duke nodded, “Yeah, they'll be fine. Got them set up with my contacts there; there's plenty of space, they can run around, howl at the moon without anyone noticing, and Jo’s starting work at the sawmill today.”

Nathan nodded, “OK, good.”

Sometimes a Trouble could be solved by talking it through, sometimes by making some basic adjustments to everyday life, but when your young kids suddenly turned into werewolves, a change of location could be the best option. 

“How've things been here?” Duke asked.

Nathan grimaced and let go of Duke’s hand to run his through his hair. “We've got unexplained pools of blood popping up all over town, Marion Caldwell’s kid accidentally froze half of Chesters Cove, and there's a guy locked in the cells for his own safety because he's convinced he can fly.”

“Wow,” replied Duke, “I was only gone a few days.”

Nathan nodded an agreement. “Didn't expect it to get this bad this quickly. It's sooner than last time, much sooner.”

“Maybe talking about it more has brought some people's Troubles to the surface more quickly?” Duke pondered.

“Maybe,” Nathan allowed. “I still think it was the best thing for the town.”

“I agree,” Duke assured him. Neither of them gave voice to the other thing they agreed on;  _ I just don't think I'd be able to lie to her. _

“We need her here,” Nathan said. 

Duke didn't need to ask who he meant, and he didn't need to ask what the hitch in his voice was when he said it either; he felt it too.

Duke gave Nathan a quick kiss on the cheek and left his hand on Nathan's arm as he asked, “What's the most pressing issue? What can I do?”

Nathan looked at the wall screen again, swiped across it to bring up a running summary of their current cases. “Right now it's relatively calm. Caldwell’s in the hospital under observation, but seems to be fine as long as she's calm. The guy who was harassing her has been shown the way out of town, so hopefully that will be a bit easier for her now. We've got roadblocks going up to stop people getting to Chesters Cove until the sea defrosts, so unless, or rather until, anything else comes up I think we're under control for the time being. In the morning I'll need to check on the test results …” Nathan sentence trailed off. 

Duke was about to ask him what was wrong, but then he heard it too; a familiar and incredibly determined voice speaking to some of the officers outside. They shared a look and took hold of each other's hands again. After all the years of waiting, now they felt they could do with a little more time. But they didn't have it; there she was in the doorway, telling Officer Mitchell that she could explain everything. And then she turned to look at them and her face fell.

She recovered her composure quickly. “OK Nathan, I know you're not going to want to believe me, but something strange is going on here,” she said as she stepped into the office.

But at the same time, Nathan spoke. “Ma’am…” he began in his best chief-of-police voice and let go of Duke’s hand to step forward. Audrey frowned and looked to Duke, and Duke stopped Nathan with a hand on his arm. Nathan turned back to look at him, but Duke was looking at their visitor. At her blonde hair tied back in a bun, at her brown jacket and black jeans; everything just exactly the same as the last time he had seen her. “...Audrey?” he asked.

She nodded, looking them over, looking the room over as she took a couple of steps further inside. “Who were you expecting?” she asked, confused.

Nathan nodded to Mitchell and she closed the door behind her as she left them to it.

“Audrey?” Nathan asked her, his voice small.

“Yes Nathan, it's me. But … none of this is right, something has happened to the town and this office and … you  _ felt _ Duke’s hand on your arm. And you, both of you… I mean you look good with the grey in your hair but … What kind of Trouble is this?”


	3. Chapter 3

For a moment there was a charged silence, and then Duke spoke. “We were expecting someone else who looked like you,” he began gently. “The same way it seems to go every 27 years.”

“27 years,” Audrey echoed, her voice dull with shock.

“We've been planning for the next round of Troubles ... waiting to meet the new ... It never occurred to us it would actually ... _be_ _you_ ,” Nathan managed.

“I … I went into the barn,” Audrey said, as though she were only just now remembering. 

“Yes,” Duke said, and Audrey watched Nathan nod.

“It was the only way, but … but that was  _ just now _ ,” she protested. “I don't remember anything between then and now.”

“It's OK,” Duke assured her. He took a little step towards her, but his hand found Nathan's arm and he didn't move far.

“What happened when I went inside?” Audrey asked them.

Nathan closed his eyes for a moment before the two men looked at each other. Duke wrapped both his hands around Nathan's and squeezed. “That wasn't a great day,” he said at last.

Audrey watched them carefully. Her eyes fell to their hands, their fingers twinned through each other, gripping tight. They had always been comfortable in each other's presence (even when they had been arguing and throwing insults - or punches) but this was something different. A platinum ring on Duke’s left hand caught the light, and as they moved she saw that Nathan wore a matching one. “You're married,” she said, surprised. “You got married.”

Duke nodded at her, looking back, trying to work out her reaction. Nathan replied, “We did. Audrey I'm …”

She cut him off before he could form the apology, “Nathan,” she said warmly, “Congratulations. I'm only sorry I couldn't have been there.”

Nathan nodded a little acknowledgement and Duke told her, “You were there as much as we could make you. We had cupcakes for dessert and we …” he flicked a glance to Nathan and there was the smallest exchange of nods between them before he continued. “We raided your old stuff and found a blue silk dress; had it made into matching ties. You were our good luck; something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue; all in one.”

“Hey!” she protested in mock outrage, “I loved that dress!” but it was plain to see she was touched. “I'm sorry I had to leave,” she said and as her voice cracked she closed her eyes and shook her head; neither man had ever seen her look quite so lost.

“Audrey, no,” protested Nathan and he walked over to her, keeping hold of Duke’s hand so that they went together. “You did what you had to for the town, for us. It took me a good long while to realise that but. ... I never thought I'd get the opportunity to thank you,” he added, and he reached his arms carefully around her in a hug.

It was strange for both of them; she hadn't changed at all and now here he was with a few more pounds round the middle and a lot more grey hair on top. But it was still her, and it was still him, and the love had never gone away.

Nathan gave a short tug on Duke’s hand and he wrapped his arms around the both of them. After a moment, she squeezed Nathan hard, and smiled at Duke to run a hand down his arm as she pulled carefully away from them. It was them but it wasn't; the love was still there, but the relationship was not the same.

She wiped her eyes and glanced over at the map on the wall. “So the Troubles went away but now they're back?” she asked. “But your Trouble isn't,” she added to Nathan.

“Nothing's triggered it so far. We don't fight like that any more.”

“That seems like a lot of responsibility on you,” Audrey said to Duke, but he shook his head.

“It takes two to fight,” Nathan told her. “I realised that a long time ago. We don't use our fists on each other now; we found something better, underneath the punches.”

Audrey watched them look at each other and she smiled in that emotional way that people tend to reserve for l weddings. “I am so happy for you both,” she told them. “I want to hear all about it. But I do also want to understand why I am back here again, 27 years later and still me. I didn't think this was supposed to happen.”

“Neither did we,” said Duke with feeling.

“Never even considered it,” agreed Nathan. “Thought we'd planned for everything.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Planning for the Troubles?” asked Audrey, intrigued. She took off her jacket and hung it on the hat stand that still stood in the corner of the office. She let her gaze roam around the room as they talked, taking in what was different, and what was still the same.

“We started talking about how it was all going to happen again and how difficult that would be,” said Duke. “But then we realised; this time we'll know it's coming. We've got more than two decades to prepare, and this time we can do things differently. We sat Vince and Dave down and talked at them until they agreed to help.”

“Help with what exactly?” Audrey asked as she looked out of the window. Car designs had not changed quite as much in 27 years as she might have expected, but they were definitely different.

“Between the four of us we went through the archives in the Herald, all the documents we had here at the station, the Crocker family journal as well. Recorded and categorised everything, put detailed timelines together for the last few cycles, compiled what information we could for the others” Nathan told her. “And we talked at Vince and Dave some more; got them to tell us every little thing they had in their heads so that that all got written down too. Stuff they knew about the town, stuff they knew about the Troubles: you wouldn't believe all the detail they were holding from us.”

Audrey’s wry laugh as she turned back towards them told them she wasn't having much problem believing it at all.   


Duke nodded in agreement, “One of said things being the existence of the Guard. They are the organisation behind the tattoo symbol effectively; a secret society of Troubled people with a lot of knowledge about the history of the town and the way the Troubles work.”

“Even once Vince told us what the Guard is, it took us a while to understand exactly how much influence they hold in this town. And how long they've been around.”

Duke agreed. “We wouldn’t have been able to do half the things we have without their support. Or rather without Vince, and then Dwight once he took over as leader.”

“They don't like cops, even Troubled ones, and they took a bit more persuading on the idea of doing things differently. Dwight helped with that though and they came around eventually. Most of them,” Nathan added.

“Not all of them?” Audrey asked.

“We've made their secret society not-so-secret, anyway and there’s not really any going back on that now,” Duke pointed out. “That wasn’t all Vince and Dave had been holding back on us though; they owned properties all over town. Some nominally belonged to the Guard, places they had been using and which were left to Dwight and other Guard members.”

“And they had other places here and out of town, various bank accounts and investments. All kinds of resources to be honest,” Nathan told her. “They passed some of it on to us while they were still around. Or rather to the Haven Residents Association; it has a specific fund to help people in need, particularly those affected by the Troubles. And then there was more in their will. The Haven PD Community Fund is now particularly well funded and we used some of it to keep the Rouge in good repair too, once Duke finally stopped objecting.”

“I shouldn’t be taking money that …” Duke began in what was clearly a continuation of a long running argument.

“You didn’t  _ take  _ it, you  _ used  _ it, for the good of the town. You just got back from a trip in the Rouge for us! And in any case, it would be perfectly reasonable to take some compensation for your time and effort...”

“I don’t …” Duke began, then changed his mind and held up his hands. “OK. I lost this argument already, I know.”

“It’s the one thing we’ve never been able to reach agreement on,” Nathan told Audrey.

“Well … there is a certain ongoing debate about breakfast options,” Duke pointed out with a mischievous little glint in his eye. “And what the appropriate time is to get up on a Sunday morning. And whether Paris or Venice was more romantic. And what …”

“Alright, alright.”

“You went to Europe?” Audrey asked, excited for them.

“Yep,” Duke told her. “For our honeymoon. We took a few weeks, did a bit of a tour. Nathan here was so taken with the charms of Paris (and its red wine) that he …”

“OK!” Nathan interrupted. “So anyway, not long after we started working with the Guard, Eleanor came back to Haven. She joined us and brought in Vickie as well.”

As Nathan talked, Duke mouthed an,  _ I’ll tell you later _ , to Audrey. Nathan saw, and smiled despite himself, but he carried on talking. “They run the Residents Association now and they've kept track of the population, particularly amongst the Troubled; not just births, deaths and marriages, but divorces, affairs, arguments, grudges, rivalries. That’s all recorded too. It's all relevant,” he protested at her look of surprise. “You know it is. And we’ve been lucky that the evolution of communications and data technology has helped us store and sort and share all this information. And now it's here at our fingertips; everything that’s known about the Troubles, right here - cross referenced, fully searchable.” He picked up his screen from where it had sat on his desk, now folded back down to the size of the kind of cell phone Audrey remembered. 

She reached across to take the device from him for a better look and he let her, though once it was in her hand, the screen cut out. “Security feature,” he told her. “PCDs are all linked to their owner; they cut out if anyone else tries to use them. We've been careful about data security too; a census of the Troubled could be a weapon in the wrong hands. Only the five of us have access to everything, though in the event we are no longer around, access will get released to others, in HPD and in the Guard.”

“You really have thought of everything,” replied Audrey. “Wait, five of you?”

“Us, Dwight, Eleanor and Vickie. Vince and Dave are no longer around. They died a few years ago, a week apart from each other. They're buried together up on the hill. I still go up there to talk to them sometimes,” he admitted.

Duke looked a little surprised at that, Audrey noticed. “They came to be so much more helpful than we ever would have expected,” he said, and squeezed Nathan's hand again.


	5. Chapter 5

“We’re not getting any younger, you know,” said Dave. 

From the other desk in the Herald’s offices, Vince glared at him over his reading glasses.

“Other people would have retired long ago.”

“I assume you have a point?” asked Vince, looking thoroughly uninterested in the concept of retirement.

“We made it through this last round of Troubles, but there’s more than 20 years to go until the next. Likelihood is we won’t be around by then. What’ll happen to this place? To the records in the archive? Who’s going to run the paper, smooth over the stories that don’t make sense? Even if it’s all online by then or whatever, someone’s got to write the stuff. What happens if we die and this place gets sold and turned into a coffee shop or a bar or something, what then?”

Vince frowned, reluctant to admit that Dave had a point. He took his glasses off and opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment the bell over the door jangled and Duke and Nathan came walking in, so Vince took the opportunity to greet them instead of disagreeing with Dave.

“Afternoon boys. How’s things?”

Neither of them replied, pulling up a couple of chairs instead.

“OK,” Dave said, looking from one of them to the other. “Looks serious.”

The younger men shared the briefest look and Nathan nodded almost to himself, as though reaching a decision, or reminding himself of one. “The Troubles are gone for now, but their effects linger on. Every 27 years, the people of this town are scared and confused, and hurt, and killed by the Troubles and nobody talks about it. It's not good enough,” Nathan told them bluntly.

“We can do better,” Duke continued. "Five years ago, we watched the woman we love walk into a barn which then blinked out of existence. And impossible though that sentence is, I know that you, that both of you know, exactly what that feels like. And in 22 years time, we will meet another woman with her face and essentially it comes down to this: We are simply not prepared to lie to her,” Duke said with feeling.

“This time we are doing things differently,” Nathan finished, and sat back in his chair to wait for a reaction.

If they had expected outrage or disagreement from the two older men, they didn't get it. Vince and Dave simply looked at each other for a long moment, and when they turned back to face them, Vince nodded. “What do you propose?” he asked.


	6. Chapter 6

Audrey sat down heavily onto the sofa, then looked down at it, surprised; it looked the same as the old one she remembered, but it was newer and more comfortable. She ran a hand across her hair. “Is there still a coffee machine in this place?” she asked.

“I'll go,” said Duke, and squeezed Nathan's hand again before he left the office, closing the door behind him.

Audrey and Nathan looked at each other across the office and across the span of years that now separated them. Neither of them had seen this coming and, in contrast to the other unlikely and often perilous situations they had found themselves in in the past, there did not seem to be any way out of this one. Nathan was unavoidably older because that was how time worked. And Audrey wasn't, because apparently that was how the barn worked and now they had to process the fact that it seemed to be making up the rules as it went.

“This is …” Audrey began. 

“Strange,” Nathan offered and sat down in the chair behind his desk.

She nodded. “I'm glad,” she began. “That you two were able to find each other. It's nice to see you happy.”

Nathan smiled his little smile and nodded in his turn. “Gotta say, if I’d known I'd be seeing you again, I'm not sure that would have gone the same way.”

“Well, then I'm glad you didn't know,” Audrey told him firmly. “I don't like the thought of you spending 27 years waiting for me when we don't even know how long I'll be here.”

Nathan hesitated before he spoke again. “He loves you too, you know. In a way, that was what helped us find each other. We both struggled with having to watch you go. Well, mostly me to be honest; I was a mess. He was … stronger about it. But he understood what I was going through and he helped me cope. I hope I've helped him too, over the years, but …”

Nathan sentence dried up and Audrey asked, “Which one of you proposed?”

“I did. Though I think we might have stayed engaged forever if he hadn't organised the actual wedding.”

Duke came back in with the coffees just then, but he stop in surprise when he saw the way they were both looking at him.

“What?” he asked. 

“Thank you,” Audrey told him. “For looking after each other while I was gone.”

“Know I didn't make it easy for you,” Nathan added.

“Only at first,” Duke told him affectionately. “Anyway, you know me: I like a challenge,” he added with a grin that he directed at both of them.

Audrey watched the way they smiled at each other as Duke handed out the coffees; she saw that all of the old antagonism really was gone, and she realised if they could fix that, they could probably fix anything. Nathan wrapped his long fingers around his coffee cup, soaking up the warmth though the room was not cold.

“So how specific did your preparation plans get?” Audrey asked as she got comfy on the sofa, tucking her legs underneath her.

Nathan answered as Duke stirred his coffee and pulled up a chair to the side of Nathan’s desk. “It was more about the research, and preparing for the Troubles in general than for individual cases. We did work out specific action plans for some of the worse ones, and we made sure we understood how those work as best we could. But half of the problem is often that the Troubled person doesn't know what's going on, doesn't even know what's possible. So we decided to talk about it more. Or rather, talk to more people about it.”

“Really?”

“We wanted the town in general to be prepared; not just us,” Nathan told her.  

Duke put his coffee down on a waiting coaster on the corner of Nathan's desk and there was something about the movement which hinted at how many times he'd done it before, how many hours he'd spent in that exact spot, how many coffees they had shared as they discussed strategy and worked on their preparations. “It's been a close balancing act to avoid publicising the town's weird history too widely,” Duke told her. “We made sure the Guard talked to any family with a known Trouble, made sure they would tell their kids and grandkids about it, but the Guard were mostly doing that anyway. So then we made use of the HRA as well - the Residents Association. We arranged monthly meetings at the Gull; free food but advertised only by word of mouth to limit it to locals. Anyone else was told there was a private event on and turned away. We wanted to get people talking. It worked I think, although  …”

“Although?” Audrey asked.

“We just realised today that the rate of incidents is climbing much sooner than in previous cycles,” Nathan told her. “I don't know whether that’s related to something we've done, or to whatever process has brought you back, but - there it is.”

“I guess ...” Duke began, but he didn't get any further than that before the door opened.

“Honey, I heard about a visitor …” 

All Nathan did was raise his eyebrows a little and incline his head towards a point somewhere over her right shoulder, but it was enough to make Eleanor stop in the middle of her sentence and turn and look behind her. “Hello,” she said, cautiously. 

“Hello Eleanor,” Audrey replied.

“Eleanor,” said Duke, “You remember Audrey.”

Eleanor looked from Duke to Nathan and back again, wondering if they were serious. When she turned back to Audrey, she was greeted with a little wave.

“It's still me,” Audrey confirmed.

“Well I'll be damned,” said Eleanor, surprised. “Good to see you kiddo.”

“You too,” replied Audrey. “I hear you've been busy while I was away.”

Eleanor nodded as she sat down on the sofa next to Audrey. “I thought we were about as prepared as we could be, but of course we were not expecting to see you again. Not exactly.”

“Have you seen the new cases we've had today?” Nathan asked her. “Things are getting bad more quickly than we expected. Something is definitely different this time.”

“hmmm,” replied Eleanor. “Two things are different it would seem. Something to think about. Whatever happens we are in a better place to deal with it than we were before.” She turned back to Audrey, “Once you were gone I regretted not telling you more. But it was difficult to know how to talk about it, especially having spent so long being careful not to.”

Audrey nodded. “I can understand that. That’s another benefit of having talked about it more this time?”

“Yes I think so,” Eleanor agreed.

“I was just learning about the Haven Residents Association, and their events at the Gull.”

“I think it's been useful,” Eleanor told her. “We've had some joint events with the Guard as well, to make sure that people who are not Troubled get a chance to talk to those who are; to see that they're just people.”

“We didn't want a repeat of when Driscoll tried to stir up tensions between the two groups,” Duke added. “And we made sure that the next generation of Troubled people didn't just know what might happen to them, but that they knew too that they had options in terms of who to call for help.”

Audrey looked surprised at that and Nathan offered some explanation. “Law abiding or not, not everyone wants to call the police when something emotional happens to them. Some of the Troubles we read about can get really… personal. I'd rather they call the Guard than nobody.”

“Everyone knows something about what's going on now, and they know they've got options as well, and that can only be a good thing,” said Eleanor as she stood up. “I really have to get going, I just wanted to call in and see how you were doing,” she said to Nathan.

“Thanks,” he said.

Eleanor turned to Audrey. “It's nice to see you,” she said. 

“You too,” said Audrey.

Once Eleanor was gone, Audrey added, “She looks well.”

“She does,” Duke agreed. “We keep expecting her to slow down a bit as she gets older, but it hasn't happened yet.”

“I can see she must have helped with all these preparations of yours.”

“She has, absolutely,” replied Nathan before continuing the tale of the intervening years. “She's been invaluable to what we've tried to do here. And then, we’ve tried to make preparations outside of Haven as well. Duke has spent the last 15 years or so doing regular trading trips up and down the coast, meeting people, helping people out, doing favours, making connections. Talking about myths and legends too, as a proxy for the Troubles, sounding people out as to whether they believe this kind of crazy stuff.”

Audrey nodded, blew on her coffee. “Trading?” she asked, her tone making clear she was asking what they meant by that; trading, or smuggling. 

“Trading,” said Duke, in a way which suggested the word could mean all sorts of things.

“Trading,” agreed Nathan with a shrug, as if to say,  _ Yes and maybe smuggling too. _ “The Troubles mean we can't always do everything by the book,” he added. “Some … alternative contacts could be very helpful. In fact, already have been.”

“I don't disagree,” replied Audrey, impressed, “but I'm surprised, to hear you say it. And how do you manage that Duke, with a wedding ring on your finger when you're married to the Chief of Police?”

Duke shifted his head in a kind of half shrug which acknowledged the issue behind the question. “I may have implied to some of my less-than-legal contacts that having a cop under my thumb at home is an asset,” he admitted.

Surprised, Audrey turned to look at Nathan.

Nathan gazed levelly back at her. “I may have implied to some of the more upstanding members of Haven citizenry that having a known criminal under my thumb at home is an asset,” he responded.

Audrey took another sip of her coffee. “So, let me get this straight,” she said. “The criminal underworld thinks Nathan is a dirty cop, and the law-abiding community thinks that Duke is a confidential informant?”

Duke and Nathan looked at each other and shrugged, “That’s about the size of it, yeah,” agreed Duke.

“And these trading contacts, don't have to worry about the cops when they break the law?”

“We arrest people when we have to,” Nathan assured her. “There is a distinction between breaking the letter of the law and doing something actively damaging to society after all. We go after those who push that limit, arrest the big operators and leave the little guys alone.”

“Giving the little guys more reason to believe in the idea of Nathan as a dirty cop, and more reason to be grateful to Duke.” Audrey laughed. “I'm actually not sure whether to be impressed or slightly scared. You're treading a fine line you know, both of you.”

“Maybe,” replied Nathan. “But it's what had to be done.”


	7. Chapter 7

“So between you you've got everything sewn up,” Audrey concluded. 

They both shook their heads. “Between us and the others, maybe; Dwight, and Eleanor and Vickie. The Guard and the HRA are both a key part of it. And of course, we’ve been waiting for you as well. In fact part of the planning was about preparing for you.”

“Me?”

“Well, we didn't know  _ who _ we were preparing for, of course,” Duke added. “But we knew  _ someone _ was coming, and we…”

He paused and Nathan filled the gap, “We didn't want her to have to fight  _ so hard  _ as you did to find out who she was or what she was doing here.”

“You planned to tell her?”

Both men nodded. “That’s…” but Audrey was lost for words.

“We talked about it a lot,” Duke told her. “How soon we could do it, how to make sure she believed us, how to not scare her off. That was something else we asked Vince and Dave about: what Lucy and Sarah were really like, how they thought, how they reacted.

“We figured who ever the woman was that we met, she would in some way be motivated to believe us and that once she'd seen her first Trouble in action that she would have reason to. 

“We got a collection of evidence together; photos of you, reports of Troubled cases and how you helped, photos of us together, as well as various photos of Lucy and Sarah and a few others too. We interviewed some of the people you helped; got them on camera and their agreement she could talk to them once she got here. We got some photos and other information together about the other Audrey Parker as well.”

“She got her memories back by the way,” Nathan added, “after you went into the barn. She didn't remember Haven but the rest of her life came back to her. She picked up where she left off with the FBI and when she retired after a successful career she ran for Congress. She's currently campaigning to increase minimum provisions for unaccompanied children, foster carers and group homes.”

“She …. Wow. You're in contact with her?” Audrey asked, surprised.

Nathan shook his head. “No. I phoned her once, 10 years or so after the Troubles ended. On the pretence of a case but really I just wanted to see how she was doing. She didn't seem to recognise me, said she'd never seen much of Maine. I told her she wasn't missing much; I wasn't sure if she visited whether she would lose her memories again. There’ve been a few news stories about her, that’s all,” he added by way of explanation.

Audrey nodded, as if to say,  _ Makes sense _ . “I'm glad she's doing ok,” she said. Then added, “So, you were really going to explain everything to her? The … the new me, I mean.”

“We were. Not the second we met her, but yes. We weren't going to lie to her, and we weren't going to hold so much information back like Vince and Dave did,” Duke assured her. “They had their reasons, but … no.”

“So, your old place is free if you want it,” Nathan told her.

She looked to Duke for confirmation. “You still run the Gull?”

“Of course!” replied Duke, slightly affronted. 

“And the apartment’s empty?”

“I kept it to short term and holiday lets for the last few years so that I could make sure it would be free when the Troubles came.”

“Couldn't be sure she'd like it there of course, but at least we'd be able to offer it,” Nathan added.

“There’ve been a fair few people pass through it over the years and it doesn't have quite the same character it did when it was yours, but … yes; it's there,” confirmed Duke.

“Thank you. I thought I was going to be camping out here tonight,” said Audrey, patting the sofa beside her.

They both frowned at her. “One, that is in fact a sofa-bed, so maybe that wouldn't be so bad. Two, we do have spare rooms in both the Rouge and the house; you don't have to worry about a place to sleep.”

She nodded, taking this in; taking all of it in. “Thank you,” she said.

Duke glanced at his screen. “It's getting late and I imagine 27 years since your last meal means you're probably hungry. Fancy trying out the latest menu at the Gull?”

Audrey nodded again; less thoughtful more agreement. “That sounds wonderful,” she replied. “Just give me a minute,” she added as she stood up and looked out to the now largely empty station. “Are the bathrooms still in the same place?” she asked.

They nodded. “Not much has changed in here really,” Nathan told her. “Apart from the tech,” he admitted as she glanced at the wall screen again, which was now showing a view of the Haven coastline. 

“I'll be back in a minute,” she told them.

They watched her go and then turned to look at each other; still stunned, part relieved, part confused, part afraid for what this might mean for the Troubles and the town; or for Audrey herself.

“Audrey Parker,” said Duke, amazed. “The one thing we didn't plan for.”

Nathan nodded, the smallest little smile on his face. “Should have known,” he replied fondly. 

**Author's Note:**

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